Hotels used by county education officials and teachers for training courses, conferences and seminars cost the taxpayer more than £150,000 in just a year, we can reveal.

Education chiefs have defended the expenditure, saying it is important school staff are kept up to date with the latest training methods and developments.

An investigation by the KM Group has discovered hotels are routinely booked on a monthly basis by Kent County Council for a range of events and courses - but at a cost of tens of thousands of pounds.

The council says the costs are often shared with schools, who pay from their own budgets for headteachers and other teaching staff to attend events the authority runs.

Between 2012-2013, costs attributed to hotel bookings by the council's education directorate amounted to £156,218 - about £13,000 a month - for 166 separate events.

The county council said using hotels rather than its own facilities - such as Oakwood House, in Maidstone, or its own lecture theatre at County Hall - made sense.

Our investigation, based on an analysis of invoices published by the county council, found:

• Nearly £25,000 was spent on a headteachers' conference at the Ashford International Hotel, with the costs met by schools that involved overnight stays for some

• A total of 35 bookings were made at 10 various hotels at a cost of £32,460 in March alone this year

• A conference on "inspirational leadership" at Maidstone's Mercure Hotel - a few miles from County Hall - cost the taxpayer £6,568 and included an overnight stay for 49 delegates

• A hotel bill for £2,250 for a group of senior officials and headteachers who attended a conference on school leadership in Birmingham

• One Maidstone hotel - the Mercure - was used 47 times between 2012-13, even though it is just a few miles from County Hall.

In a statement, Kent County Council said: "It is necessary on occasions for schools and education staff to use hotels and other venues for training and events when no other Kent County Council venue is suitable or available.

"Staff need to be kept up to date with the latest developments and training methods and this often means bringing together a large number of people within a specific location."

It added that "wherever possible" the council used its own premises, but it was not always possible.

Headteachers and others only stayed overnight when it was necessary and was kept to a minimum, the county council said.

While the Maidstone Mercure was used most by Kent County Council, bookings were also made at a string of other hotels in other parts of the county.

A popular venue was the Ashford International Hotel, as was the Best Western Russell Hotel in Boxley Road, Maidstone - even closer to County Hall than the Maidstone Mercure.

Other hotels included the Mercure Hotel in Tunbridge Wells; Howfield Manor Hotel at Chartham Hatch, Canterbury; the Hadlow Manor Hotel, a Grade II-listed Georgian manor house; the Thistle Hotel near Brands Hatch and the Bridgewood Manor Hotel at Bluebell Hill, near Chatham.